


Flying Upside Down

by thetolkiengeek



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Hurt/Comfort, I know, I'm upset too, Keith angst, M/M, Post-Season/Series 04, Season 4 Spoilers, and his martyr complex, based on a Cold War Kids song, but he puts it all aside for Keith, but it demanded to be done, but lance's crush isn't, i guess, lance is insecure, sorry guys no allura, the klance is pretty subtle, there's some yelling, this is about Keith's self-destructive tendencies, yet another fic i didn't plan on writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-27
Updated: 2017-10-27
Packaged: 2019-01-25 04:42:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12523236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thetolkiengeek/pseuds/thetolkiengeek
Summary: “Keith, we’re all worried about you—“Keith cut him off. “Well, you shouldn’t be!”Lance glared at him. He had no patience for this bullshit. “Will you let me speak? Quiznak…”Keith deflated a bit. “Sorry. Go on.”Lance sighed again. “Yeah, so the team has been really worried about you lately. Ever since you pushed us all away to join the Blade of Marmora, really.” Lance fiddled with his hands. “I know I didn’t really say anything at the time, but I was really hurt when you left. It felt like you were abandoning us. Abandoning me.”--Or, Lance has a few things to say to Keith after what he did at Naxella...





	Flying Upside Down

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, a word of warning. I wrote this in like two hours, and I didn't really edit it. I just kinda wanted to get this out into the world. Also the Klance is like...not the center piece of the whole thing. If you want a fluffy Klance fic, try my other fic [Take Me To The Stars](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12129705)
> 
> [Here's](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNjxexgwBMo) the song it's based on. It's a great song. Highly recommend, of course.

Lance barely waited for Red to dock before he was jumping out and stalking down the long castle hallways.

“Lance?” came a concerned Hunk’s voice from his comms. “Are you okay?”

“Where the _hell_ is he?” Lance growled.

“Um…are you sure you should be doing this, you seem pretty angry—“

Hunk was cut off by Shiro.

“He just docked in the hangar.”

Lance barely managed to reign in his anger enough to thank Shiro.

“Hey Lance?”

“Yeah, Pidge?”

Pidge took a breath. “You’re the only one who can probably talk some sense into him. Just…don’t hurt him.”

Lance softened at that. He slowed a little in the hallway, his footsteps not quite so loud.

“Yeah…yeah, okay. You got it.”

“Thanks, Lance,” said Shiro gently.

Lance sighed. He might be the Red Paladin, but there was no way he was going to be impulsive about this. It just wasn’t in his nature. He knew Keith meant well, but…

A horrible mix of emotions churned in his stomach. There was anger, of course, that Keith would think that sacrificing himself was a good idea, and there was fear that he would do something like that again, disappointment in himself that he wasn’t good enough for Keith to want to stick around…

And most of all there was regret. He should have said something, said something more than just “Who am I gonna make fun of?”

Nevermind that underneath all of this was that stupid goddamn crush.

No, Lance wasn’t going to think about that. This was about Keith and his martyr complex.

Lance stopped, staring at the entrance to the hangar. He took a deep breath and walked through the door.

He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but he couldn’t exactly say that he was surprised that Keith seemed relatively calm climbing out of his broken little fighter, his suit a little banged up bit still sinfully skintight.

Ugh, the Blade may not be his favorite group of people, but damn did they know how to dress.

Lance shook his head. Not why he was here. He couldn’t afford to be distracted by how flattering a fucking uniform was.

“Lance?” Keith asked, stepping fully out of his ship. He seemed confused to see him, and though Lance knew it wasn’t logical, it kind of hurt.

Suddenly, all the anger Lance had tamped down rose up again like a tidal wave.

“What the hell were you thinking!” Lance stalked towards him, poking his chest maybe a little harder than necessary, but hey, if Lance’s heart was going to hurt emotionally, Keith’s could hurt physically.

“What?” Keith asked, clearly bristling at the attack. “I’m back for two seconds and you’re already yelling at me! What did I even do?”

Lance glared incredulously. “Are you serious?”

Keith crossed his arms. “We almost lost but we didn’t. I’d think you’d be at least a little glad to see me! You almost died!”

Lance spluttered. “ _You_ almost died!”

Keith’s anger faded out a bit. “Wait, so _that’s_ what this is about?”

Lance laughed humorlessly, “Of course it is, idiot. The whole team’s worried about you.”

Keith’s nose scrunched up. “Why?”

“Um…maybe because you almost killed yourself! That’s enough for anyone to be a little concerned.”

“But…I’m not part of Voltron anymore. Why should it matter?”

Ouch. That one hurt Lance…a lot. “Okay, so there are so many things wrong with that sentence…”

Lance sighed and pulled off his helmet. This was going to be a long conversation, one that was long overdue.

Keith just looked confused.

All at once, the exhaustion from the battle washed over Lance, and he just sat down on the hangar floor, legs sprawled a bit like a ragdoll. “You might as well sit, since it seems like we’re going to be here a while.”

Keith reluctantly followed. Even sitting down, his back was ramrod straight. Defensive as always…

“Keith, we’re all worried about you—“

Keith cut him off. “Well, you shouldn’t be!”

Lance glared at him. He had no patience for this bullshit. “Will you let me speak? Quiznak…”

Keith deflated a bit. “Sorry. Go on.”

Lance sighed again. “Yeah, so the team has been really worried about you lately. Ever since you pushed us all away to join the Blade of Marmora, really.” Lance fiddled with his hands. “I know I didn’t really say anything at the time, but I was really hurt when you left. It felt like you were abandoning us. Abandoning me.” He dared to look up.

Keith’s violet eyes caught his. God, he looked like a kicked puppy. Lance resisted the urge to apologize right there and then, but no matter how far gone he was for this ridiculous boy, he had to make sure he knew the consequences of his actions.

Keith’s brows knit together. “But I thought that’s what you wanted?”

“Why the hell would you think that?”

“Well, you were worried about Shiro being back and you leaving the team, so I figured the best solution would be for me to leave…” Keith trailed off as Lance continued to stare at him.

“Did you think that’s really what I wanted? For our best pilot to traipse off on dangerous missions without us?”

Lance got angrier the more he talked. “Actually, you know what, this really pisses me off. Did you not stop to think for one second how you leaving would look?

“I wasn’t even meant to pilot Red! That’s you! I’m not hot-headed, I don’t have good instincts or whatever. It was some kind of accident, a glorious accident, that I was _Blue’s_ pilot in the first place.

“But with you leading Voltron, I finally had a place on your team. I thought, maybe, I wasn’t quite so useless. And after talking with you, and by the way, just saying ‘leave the math to Pidge’ isn’t very comforting, I thought that you might have needed me. I had a place again. I was your right-hand man.”

“I—“ Keith started to say.

“No, you know what, I thought we had finally become friends. But I guess not. Friends just don’t abandon friends like that.”

“Lance,” Keith choked out.

Lance looked up, surprised. Keith, edgelord extraordinaire, was actually crying.

“Lance, I—you know I didn’t mean it like that. I just thought…that maybe if I left, you’d realize you don’t need me.”

“That’s exactly it, isn’t it, Keith? What you don’t seem to understand. We’re your family, and whether or not you accept that, we definitely need you.”

“No you don’t!”

Keith stood up and started pacing, running his hands through his hair.

“I’m not even human, okay! I’m part Galra, the bad guys. I can’t just be a part of your family when some part of my family is responsible for the enslavement of the entire fucking universe!”

Lance narrowed his eyes. “Is that what this about? You know we never really cared about that, right?”

“But I care!” Keith said, stopping his pacing to stare at Lance.

“So wait, this whole self-destructive thing is because of some guilt over your ancestry? That’s stupid.”

That was the wrong thing to say, because Keith looked about ready to punch him. But Lance wasn’t finished yet.

“So you think that you need to make up for something that someone in your family, and you don’t even know who, _might_ have done? That you need to make up for it by literally killing yourself?”

Keith’s jaw clenched.

“You need to face the truth here, buddy,” Lance said, standing up as well.

“And what truth is that?”

“You may think you’re Galra, but you will never be as long as you keep throwing yourself into dangerous situations because you’re a coward. You want knowledge? Know yourself well enough to see that you’re running away. That all of this,” Lance gestured towards his Blade uniform, “is just a smokescreen. You’re scared.”

“I finally feel useful again! You’re better without me!”

“That’s not for you to decide, Keith. If you had any knowledge at all, you would know that.”

Keith’s hands fluttered around, clenching and unclenching. “Ugh! You’re so infuriating!”

“Because I’m telling the truth? Ask yourself this, Keith. Is the Blade really worth dying for?”

“No, but you are!” Keith hit Lance with the full brunt of his eyes. He looked broken. “You’re my family, and I’d fly into death any day if it meant you all would be okay.”

Silence.

Lance’s stomach plummeted and his heart clenched. But this confession, far from making Lance give in, made him dig in his heels more. No matter what his intentions were, Keith needed to know.

With a calmness that surprised both him and Keith, Lance said, “I would hope, if you really feel that way, we’d be worth living for.”

Keith deflates. “I just can’t stand the thought of losing you.”

“Have you stopped to think that maybe we can’t stand the thought of losing you too?”

Keith scowled. “It’s too late now, isn’t it?”

Lance narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. He really wasn’t sure where Keith was going with this. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t repair this. I’ve pushed you away, and now I need to live with the consequences. It’ll be best for everyone if I just…go.” He turned towards his half-broken fighter.

Lance reached out a hand to Keith shoulder. Keith stopped and turned back. Those damn violet eyes seemed to peer into Lance’s soul. Lance stared right back, trying to convey every emotion running through him: hurt, reassurance, anger, _love_.

“You know we’re not going anywhere, right? I’m certainly not.”

Keith had a furrow in his brow. “You’ll leave. Just like everyone else…just like her.”

Lance’s heart plummeted. His family was huge, but he couldn’t even imagine losing just his mother. To lose both his parents…

“I will never leave, you know, no matter what.”

Keith’s eyes welled up with tears and he crumples to the floor. “How am I supposed to believe that, when everything else in my life, everyone else, has shown me different?”

Lance kneels down in front of Keith and put his hand gently on his shoulder.

“You’re just going to have to trust me on this one, Keith. Do you trust me?”

Keith looked up, hope shining in his eyes, just barely, through the wariness.

“I trust you.”

Lance smiled softly. He stood up and offered his hand.

“Then let’s go say hi to the rest of the team. We’ve missed you.”

Keith smiled. It was a little cautious, a little hopeful. And it was the best sight Lance had seen in months.

**Author's Note:**

> Update: I keep getting kudos and I love it, don’t get me wrong. But where the fuck are you guys coming from????


End file.
